


Breaking Point

by shutupheather



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Caring Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Evan "Buck" Buckley Has Bad Parents, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Mentioned Maddie Buckley, Pre-Relationship Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Upset Evan "Buck" Buckley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:15:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28252260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shutupheather/pseuds/shutupheather
Summary: Buck lifted his head momentarily, annoyance seeping into his tone as he spoke, “I’m fine.”“Clearly you’re not,” Eddie shot back...Buck put the heels of his hands to his eyes and sighed, “I hate how well you know me…”ORInspired by the new promo... Buck talks to Eddie about his feelings concerning his parents.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 271
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	Breaking Point

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! Thank you so much for reading :)
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated ❤️❤️
> 
> This is inspired by the new promo, showing Buck just punching his feelings out, as well as all the posts on Tumblr that resulted from said promo haha.
> 
> (btw this is just a little something i wrote, not necessarily a prediction for the actual scene)

~Eddie POV~

Eddie Diaz was no stranger to problematic parents. They were always up in your business. Always trying to force you to be something that you’re not. Always pushing their conservative ideals and beliefs onto you. 

At some point you have to break. 

For Eddie, his breaking point was when his wife abandoned him and their child. His parents acted as if he wasn’t capable of raising his son by himself. They didn’t want Eddie to, quote, “drag him down.” They tore apart his confidence with every off-handed comment they could manage. That’s when he broke. He decided then and there that he was going to start living his life under his own terms. 

His life in Los Angeles was a fresh start. Eddie had a great new job and Christopher was at an excellent school. They even found themselves a loving support system, who would always be there, rain or shine. However, none of this meant that his parents would stop trying to get them to move back to Texas. But it was a start. 

Due to his experience in the area, Eddie picked up right away when Buck started acting differently once his parents got to town. He was more withdrawn from conversation, almost as if he were afraid to speak aloud. The lively spark of energy that burned endlessly behind his sapphire eyes was extinguished. It’s like he went from Buck, the epitome of a human golden retriever, to Evan Buckley, someone Eddie couldn’t quite recognize. 

-

It was in the late afternoon one day, and everyone was off doing their own chores and activities. Eddie had just finished restocking the ambulance with Chim when they heard something. They turned and were greeted with Evan Buckley attacking an innocent punching bag with all the vigor of a raging bull. 

Chim let out a sigh next to him, “I feel bad for the guy. I mean, we’ve all got shitty parents, but the Buckley’s are a different  _ breed _ of shitty.”

“That bad, huh?” Eddie questioned, earning a huff in response. “I’m gonna go check on him… Make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”

And with that, Eddie made his way over to the station’s gym area. As he got closer, he could see that this workout was more anger focused than health-oriented. Buck’s punches, though forceful, grew sloppier with each impact. The man wasn’t easing up in the slightest however, so Eddie just stood watch next to him. After what felt like several minutes, Buck finally turned to look at Eddie.

Eddie just watched the breathless man in front of him with a curious eye, “You done?”

“No,” Buck grunted, reaching for his water bottle. “What do you want?”

“Just keeping an eye on you… For the couple years I’ve known you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you angry. And if you keep things bottled up like that, you’re bound to explode. So I’m… keeping an eye on you,” Eddie replied honestly. 

Buck didn’t try to fight that statement, he just stood there, flaring his nostrils. It’s probably because he knew, deep down, it was true. Sure, Eddie had seen Buck cry, raise his voice, and get a little pissed off sometimes, but he had  _ never _ seen Buck in such a state of irritation. But as Eddie said,  _ at some point you have to break. _ After a few more seconds of silence, Buck clearly was not about to talk it out  _ nor _ take off the boxing gloves. 

“C’mon, I know better than anyone that punching things doesn’t solve your problems… but they sure as hell make you feel better in the meantime” Eddie said. “Let me at least hold the bag for you.”

-

Later that evening, shift just having ended, Eddie had an idea. Buck seemed less angry, yet the fire inside of him burned dimmer than ever, if even at all. Needless to say, the entire crew was worried about him. Without his random wikipedia facts or just general endless chatter, the station felt eerily quiet. It didn’t feel  _ complete. _

“Hey!” Eddie began, catching the attention of Buck, who just walked into the locker room. “Chris is with his abuela tonight, wanna come over for a beer or something?”

Buck’s face was hard to read. There was a noticeable absence of a toothy, dorky grin on his face. Eddie did notice though that the lines between his eyebrows smoothed out ever so slightly, so that was a win in his book. 

“Um… sure. Yeah, I think that’d be good for me,” Buck shyly admitted. 

“Me too,” Eddie said with a clap to his best friend’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

-

A few hours later, Buck and Eddie were sitting on the older man’s couch. The table was littered with open pizza boxes and empty beer bottles, a forgotten action movie playing in the background. Eddie had his eyes trained on Buck, who’s own gaze was fixed on the mess in front of them.

Eddie let out a soft sigh, “So, are we gonna talk about what’s bugging you? Or are you just gonna keep staring holes into my coffee table?”

Buck lifted his head momentarily, annoyance seeping into his tone as he spoke, “I’m fine.”

“Clearly you’re not,” Eddie shot back. “Look man, I’m the expert on avoiding conversations about personal issues, so I get it if you don’t want to.  _ But, _ I’m also your best friend, so I know that’s not what’s best for you.”

Buck was always a person who wore his heart on his sleeve. His emotions were always on full display, never afraid to show themselves. It’s one of the things Eddie most admired about him, his openness. He had never seen Buck like this, and it tugged at something within Eddie. That something being the love he stowed away into the bottom most corner of his heart, a safe place that he could come back to when the time was right. 

Buck put the heels of his hands to his eyes and sighed, “I hate how well you know me…”

  
  


He took another breath before starting, “ … It’s my parents.”

Eddie never heard Buck, or Maddie for that matter, ever really talk about their parents. Whatever that meant, he didn’t know. He did know that the Buckley siblings were both wonderful, caring people, so whoever made them couldn't have been  _ complete _ monsters. 

“What’d they do?” Eddie asked quietly.

Buck let out a dry, humorless laugh, “It’s more like what they  _ didn’t _ do.” He turned to meet his eyes with Eddie’s, they looked glassy with unshed tears. “Eds, how many close-calls have I had on the job?”

“Well… judging by my grey hairs,” Eddie started, earning a chuckle with a little more life to it from the man next to him. “More than I can count on both hands.”

“Exactly,” Buck stated, turning his attention back to the coffee table. “I get crushed by a ladder truck… nothing. I throw up blood in my captain’s backyard… not a word. I get caught in a  _ fucking _ tsunami, for christ’s sake! And they can’t even trouble themselves to send a text, to just see how I’m doing…”

A piece of his heart shattered for the man before him. Yeah Eddie’s parents sucked, but at least they checked in with him after the well incident. Eddie didn’t even want to imagine what it must have been like for Buck before Maddie got to town. How he must have been so scared and alone, without a single family member, if he got injured on the job. 

“And then the train derailment happened, and I… I thought maybe, this was it. This time they’ll call. When I got home that night, still no word from them, I just thought… How can I be so  _ stupid _ ,” Buck continued, his voice cracking on the last word. 

Eddie laid a cautious hand to Buck’s back, the younger man tensing for a moment and then melting under the touch. His shoulders began to silently shake with small sobs.

“Buck…” Eddie said gently. “You’re not stupid. You’re anything but. These people, they’re your parents and they’re not acting like it. You don’t deserve the way they’re just casting you aside like this. It’s… for lack of a better word, it’s shitty. Really  _ shitty.  _ And I’m sorry.”

Buck offered him a tired, tear stained smile, “Thanks Eds.” 

He drew in another shaky breath to compose himself, Eddie’s hand still rubbing soft circles on his back, “They just… They make me so angry. And I hate it! I hate feeling angry. It’s not me. It’s… It’s not who I am.”

He was right. Buck was never a person to lose his cool and just lash out. He liked to talk issues out with people. Eddie should know. During the whole lawsuit debacle, while Eddie and him were fighting, all he wanted was to talk. He never yelled, never threatened violence, was never mean.  _ That’s _ who Buck was.

“When I met them for dinner the other night, they were so…  _ horrible, _ ” tears began streaking Buck’s cheeks once more. “They took shot after shot at me. Telling me I shouldn’t be a firefighter, telling me I was weak for going to therapy, basically telling me that I’m not good enough… And I just had to sit there and take it, because Maddie’s pregnant, and Chim’s new to this, but… sometimes you just have to…”

“Break?” Eddie finished the thought for him.

“...yeah,” Buck whispered.

And then the tough guy facade Buck had been wearing the past couple of days was ripped in half by the sob escaping his body. The Evan Buckley that’s been shuffling around the station, finally disappeared. In his place, sat Buck, as raw and vulnerable as ever. This was just the tip of the iceberg, in regard to his issues, and Eddie knew it. He was still working on his own familial problems. But maybe, just maybe, they could help each other. 

  
Eddie enveloped his crying partner in his arms. Tears running down both of their faces now. He might not always know what to say, but Eddie needed to make sure Buck knew that he was here for him. They would be a team,  _ always _ . They had each others’ backs. 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow and talk to me on Tumblr!!
> 
> @118hasmyback


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